


Blind

by Koschei_Oakdown



Category: Green Lantern - All Media Types
Genre: M/M, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-05
Updated: 2019-01-05
Packaged: 2019-10-04 09:45:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,014
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17302319
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Koschei_Oakdown/pseuds/Koschei_Oakdown
Summary: No one gets what they want





	Blind

**Author's Note:**

> Credit to DC Comics

Everything was set into place, ready for Thaal's plan to be put into action. A sharp construct extended from his ring and he approached the unconscious figure. It was best, he'd decided, to kill Hal without waking him. No undue pain did Thaal wish to cause to this Hal. All his anger was reserved for the Hal of the future.

Only when he had the construct's point to Hal's throat did he pause. It would be easy, he could end all this with a simple movement of his wrist. But something was stopping him. No, he was just being weak, he had to do this or nothing would change. So why did his arm refuse to obey his instructions, refused to take that last step and kill Hal?

Seconds ticked by, with Thaal hesitating uncertainly, until Hal stirred. A shudder ran through the human, he shook his head violently, trying to dislodge the blindfold over his eyes. "Hello?" he called out, once he'd seemed to figure out he wouldn't be seeing for a while. "Is anyone there? Someone…?" he trailed off, set his jaw, and started trying to yank his hands free of their binds. The skin around his wrists was being rubbed raw, Thaal couldn't let it happen.

In a swift move, Sinestro dissolved his sharp construct and instead grasped Hal by the throat. If he killed Hal now, or at least knocked him out again, the human wouldn't be suffering. But he was taken by surprise, stunned into inaction, when Hal recognised him and croaked, "Sinestro?" His throat moved against Sinestro's hand but he seemed now to be quite relaxed. "What's going on? Where are we?"

For a moment, Thaal was left speechless, at a loss for how Hal could possibly know who he was by touch alone. But he angrily shook the question away and reminded himself Hal needed to die. Even employing all his might however, Thaal couldn't bring himself to tighten his hand, to crush the precious pipes Hal needed to breathe, to speak, and to live.

"You're a fool," Sinestro tried for a threatening tone, still determined Hal would die, but it came out as angry and frustrated. Why did Hal insist on making even his own murder so difficult? "I have you restrained." Since having Hal by the throat didn't seem to be doing much, Sinestro grabbed him by the shoulders instead and pressed close, so their noses were all but brushing. "I'm going to kill you. Will you not fight?"

"Do you want me to?" Hal asked hesitantly, though showing no sign of fear, just confusion. His head was tilted up, in the direction of Sinestro's voice. "Is this some kind of training exercise? Because I'm really not in the mood. You know, since you whacked me over the head. That was you, right? Yeah, well, I reckon I have like a concussion or something. My head is killing me. Can we go back to Oa?"

It was utterly irrational but Thaal could barely resist Hal's hopeful expression. There was no way he could go to Oa, however, he'd already squashed enough butterflies in this time. Hal had to die. It was the only option.

Getting desperate, Thaal tried to conjure up the feeling that had driven him to do this in the first place. Hatred of the Guardians and of any Green Lantern who blindly followed them, he would be able to fix it all if he could only kill Hal. But, in the moment, with Hal at his mercy, the Hal who had done nothing but save his life countless times and was waiting for a reply, for an instruction, Thaal's perfect plan didn't matter. It was crumbling apart, escaping through his fingers, just as he dropped to his knees with a hard thud and rested his head on Hal's lap. "I can't do it," he admitted defeat, and never wished to move again. How was Hal so warm, such a comfort? It was intoxicating. He'd missed this.

"Can't do what?" Hal asked, and he sounded concerned. Fingers trailed through Sinestro's hair and over his scalp, his eyes closed as he absorbed the sensation. He didn't particularly care his constructs keeping Hal tied up and blinded had apparently disappeared. "Sin? If this is about getting back to Oa… Look, even if your ring is empty, you can just give me mine and we'll -"

Already, Sinestro was rejecting the suggestion, he couldn't give Hal his ring back. "No," he denied. "Sinestro will want to know where you are. If he contacts you and you tell him, there will be consequences for this timeline." Now, supposing he'd have to explain everything to Hal, Thaal raised his head, but the human was nodding slowly, as though having followed every word.

"Sin…" Hal began carefully, and he sounded not all too sure of the certainty of his next words, "are you from the future? 'Cause if you are, that would actually explain a lot. Like, why you would want to kill me, because clearly, I've become so annoying the only solution to shut me up is to go back in time and off me now."

The dismissive way Hal treated the situation was aggravating, especially after Thaal had been so worked up about it. Eyebrows coming down over his forehead, Sinestro stood and snapped, "This has nothing to do with you." Hal looked taken aback. "This is between the Guardians and I," Sinestro continued, less harshly this time, simply stating fact. "You are nothing but a pawn and one I cannot bring myself to use." His fists clenched, nails digging into palms. "This was a waste of time."

As he turned away from Hal, he caught sight of the ring on his left hand, the Qwardian ring he was supposed to be using to kill Hal. Now he might as well just return to the future, retreat back to Qward, admit his failure, since his plan wasn't going to work. Or maybe it would, with a few adjustments.

Interrupting Sinestro's new scheming, Hal confessed, "I don't get it. How is killing me going to help your future? Am I - am I already dead? Or…" he trailed off, for Sinestro had turned back around and was frowning at him. "What?" Hal asked defensively. "You'd want to know your future too, wouldn't you?"

There was, Thaal supposed, no harm in letting Hal know his plan. Speaking about it aloud may even help to come up with a new course of action. "Once I had killed you," Sinestro started to explain, "I would have set the scene as though the Guardians were responsible through some inaction they'd taken in their careless arrogance. Naturally, I - that is, my past self - would then seek to bring them down in your name. The last straw to force myself to act. Most of the Corps would follow me, they like you well enough by now to be angered by your death."

In actual fact, Thaal was rather proud of his plan. Had he been able to pull it off, he was sure it would've worked. Now though, he could think of no way to achieve the same results with a different method. And Hal didn't look very impressed. "You'd kill me just for that? To take down the Guardians? Don't you think that's a little extreme?" Thaal attempted to see it from Hal's perspective but had little success. No, it was a perfectly sound plan.

Seeming to sense what he was thinking, Hal frowned, and came at it from a different angle, "How do you know you won't just move on? After I die, I mean. You wouldn't sacrifice everything for me."

It was like being back in the future, and Sinestro couldn't help but laugh. "You presume to know me? Now you sound like the Hal I know, of your future." Sinestro stalked to Hal, loomed over him, for the human was still sitting. "Should I give you the same answer I would give him?" he asked quietly. "You might get upset and call me a liar. But even lies don't make you happy. Just what is it you want, Hal?"

With just the tips of his fingers, Thaal stroked his fingers down Hal's cheek, and soft brown eyes closed at the touch. How could he ever think to take Hal out of his life? Despite the results it would achieve, he couldn't imagine it being truly worth it. Every moment of frustration he'd gladly suffer through for a second like this.

When Hal's eyes opened, after far too short a time, his continued confusion was clear and his mouth moved to form some kind of question, Thaal had no doubt. But instead, Hal's eyes fixed on a point over Sinestro's shoulder and widened. His mouth dropped open. And, now Thaal was looking for it, he could see a faint glow of green colouring the wall, a brilliant light behind him causing the apparition.

Instantly, Sinestro whipped around and his ring came up to shoulder height. He was mirroring the Green Lantern's position exactly, left hand opposite right hand, for Hal had somehow followed him from the future. "You never did get it, did you?" The white of Hal's eyes was cold and narrowed. "I want you, and I want this ring -" the fingers of Hal's right hand flexed, ring glinting with light - "and you made it so I couldn't have both."

Eavesdropping wasn't very polite and neither was placing all the blame on Sinestro. Before he could say anything along those lines, however, before he could remind Hal just who had abandoned who, the other Hal, the Hal of the past, had pushed in front of him. "Don't hurt him," Hal of the past demanded, but he wasn't talking to Sinestro. Eyes on his future self, he was tensed up for a fight.

It was, in a way, flattering. In the past, as Hal was demonstrating, he trusted Sinestro more than himself. Any doubt he might have didn't matter in the face of a choice between himself and Sinestro. "Keep out of this," Hal from the future snapped back. "You have no idea what he's done."

Hal from the past refused to back down. It was strange, watching the two of them argue with each other, for they looked quite alike, though only one wore a Green Lantern ring. "What he's done? What about you?" Even without his ring, Hal had just as much of a presence, the argument seemed fairly matched. "How did it get to this point?"

Now, Hal of the past turned to Sinestro, and his expression was aghast. "I don't want this," he confessed. It was almost an apology, though he couldn't really know what he was apologising. His attention was now distracted however, and Thaal saw it coming, was ready when Hal from the future whacked his past self over the head with a construct baseball bat. Like a puppet with its strings cut, the now unconscious Hal crumpled, headed to the ground, and Sinestro caught him, just in time.

"Forgot how annoying I used to be," Hal muttered. On the ground, cradling the other Hal in his arms, Sinestro raised a questioning eyebrow. Used to be? Of course, Hal ignored that, brow furrowed as he dissolved the construct he'd used to knock himself out. "Who does he think he is? Judging my life! See how he handles it when he gets to be me. Give him here," he added to Sinestro. "I need to wipe his memory."

There were some number of things Thaal could've done to make a protest. After all, he had a hostage, and he could take advantage of the yellow impurity by using his ring against Hal's, having Hal at his mercy. But then what? He had no desire for petty victory, he'd failed in what he'd wanted to do and there was no changing it now. So he surrendered Hal of the past over to Hal of the future and waited for the moment he would be escorted back to his time.


End file.
